A.R.E. Blog

WANT TO BE HAPPY? Then Stop Chasing After HappinessBy Josie Varga

If I asked you, do you want to be happy, you'd, of course, say yes. We all want to feel happiness, no exceptions. In fact, most of us spend a lifetime searching for meaning and happiness in our lives. Why do so many never get there? Why are so many unhappy?
We are all accustomed to the idea that happiness is something that we need to pursue but, ironically, the more we chase after happiness, the further we are from it. Happiness cannot be pursued or chased, because it comes from within and is all a matter of how we think.
True, money is important. Let's face it, we have to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. But according to a recent study, after about $75,000 a year, money does not increase or decrease your level of happiness.

We have all heard people say things like, "I'll be happy when I get a better job" or "I'll be happy when I buy a bigger house," etc. I call this the I'll Be Happy When scenario. But what happens when you get that job and you're still not happy? What happens when you finally get that dream house and feel no happier? "Stuff" does not make you happy. It might bring you pleasure for a while, but it can't bring you true happiness. True happiness is a choice and a state of mind. In other words, it can never be bought.

I can remember when I was a little girl growing up with a disability (I was born with cerebral palsy and suffer from bilateral hearing loss)—there were many times when I looked in the mirror and didn't like that girl with the kinky hair and overbite looking back at me.
It took me a long time to realize that the little girl I saw in the mirror was just a reflection of my mind. In other words, I was creating her by my own negative attitude. Life doesn't just happen. Life is a response to your way of thinking. Like Edgar Cayce said, our thoughts create our reality. Change your thinking; change your life.

As many of you know, Helen Keller was both blind and deaf, and yet she went on to graduate from college and become one of the 20th century's leading humanitarians. Keller once wrote, "I have for many years endeavored to make this vital truth clear; and still people marvel when I tell them that I am happy. They imagine that my limitations weigh heavily upon my spirit, and chain me to the rock of despair. Yet, it seems to me, happiness has very little to do with the senses. If we make up our minds that this is a drab and purposeless universe, it will be that, and nothing else. On the other hand, if we believe that the earth is ours, and that the sun and moon hang in the sky for our delight, there will be joy upon the hills and gladness in the fields because the artist in our souls glorifies creation. Surely, it gives dignity to life to believe that we are born into this world for noble ends, and that we have a higher destiny than can be accomplished within the narrow limits of this physical life."

Victor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor stated, "Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose." If you believe that life is defined by your circumstances, you will never rediscover the happiness within. Nothing will ever be enough, because you will always be searching for more.

I have both good and bad news. The bad news is our brains are actually prewired to pay more attention to negative experiences. It is part of our natural protective instinct or the body's fight or flight response. But the good news is positive thinking has been proved to literally change the makeup of the brain (a science called neuroplasticity).

One of the ways we do this is by repetition. We are how we think. Focusing on the positive stimulates the growth of nerve connections in the brain, which in turn leads to more positive thoughts.

As an author and motivational speaker, people always ask me, "How do you stay so positive?" Well, to be honest, being happy doesn't mean we are never unhappy. Let's face it, bad things happen. What it does mean, however, is that we acknowledge the bad but still choose the positive.

Josie Varga is a motivational speaker and the author of five books. Her most recent book, Divine Visits, highlights true angelic and divine interventions from around the world. For more information, please visit her website at JosieVarga.com.

Seeds for the Garden of Life By Jerry Lazarus

The most important seeds ever planted are the ones that blossom in the garden of life. When these seeds are sown carefully and the plants tenderly nurtured, they produce a garden that beautifies and enriches life for family, friends, and others who may step onto your path.

Patience: Seeds will not germinate if sowed too early. Will bear large fruit if allowed to grow until the end of fruiting season. Easy to propagate in your home garden. Curbs impatiens overgrowth.

Faith: For best results, before seeding, improve the soil with hope. If properly cared for, this plant produces heavy clusters of fruits of the spirit. Support the fruits until harvest. For vigorous growth, plant alongside patience; doubt intolerant.

Kindness: Excellent when mixed in with Love. Germinates quickly. Make sure to water regularly and the yield will be plentiful. Attracts many beneficial creatures, including friends, neighbors, and strangers. Top seller!

Joy: Annual. Must seed each year for new growth.

Compassion: Best sown in areas where other seeds are hard to germinate. May take time to see results. Fruit is full of character. Drip irrigation recommended.

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Truthfulness: This is a natural deterrent for all types of pests and will keep a garden looking beautiful and healthy. Sow in between rows. Fragrant and attractive blooms. Self-pollinating.

Generosity: Prolific growth and fruiting year-round. Because of heavy fruiting, it’s a favorite to share with neighbors. Makes an excellent gift, especially during the holiday season.

Peace: Companion planting with Tolerance recommended. Once germinated, will grow with all combination of plants. Can endure any conditions. Regular picking provides a continuous supply of fresh Peace. Everyone seems to get along when peace is planted with Tolerance.

Cooperation: Will adapt to any conditions. For optimal yield, plant on common ground. Promotes cross-pollination among all. A favorite of community gardens.

Special Instructions: Do not use pesticides, such as hate, jealousy, haste, anger, fear, arrogance, blame, or belittling. Although they may provide short-term relief, in the end they are toxic to gardeners, soil and plants.

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Before planting, prepare soil with openness, willingness, and thoughtfulness. Fertilize the soil to help seeds to grow.

Enjoy the fruits of these seeds of the heart year-round!

These certified organic seeds can be grown in all zones. Call now, guidance is only a heartbeat away! The Master Gardener is standing by for all your prayers and questions!

Jerry Lazarus is a spiritual teacher, counselor, and author. He has a master’s degree in
religion and meditation, and has studied Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and
Christianity. Jerry is the dream columnist for Venture Inward magazine, a speaker for
A.R.E. conferences. He leads workshops and retreats on spiritual and mystical topics
across the United States. His book, Dreams: Listening to the Voice of God, is available
at his Web site: jerrylazarus.com. Jerry is the featured presenter in the new Soul Growth
Saturday workshop Edgar Cayce on the Wisdom of Dreams: Listening to the Voice of God Conference in Virginia Beach on Jun 20, 2015.

PATIENCE
A Dimension of ConsciousnessBy John Van Auken

Edgar Cayce has a strange and fascinating perspective on patience. To him, patience is not just a virtue but also another dimension. “Time, space, and patience are those channels through which man as a finite mind may become aware of the infinite,” he explained. (Edgar Cayce Reading 3161-1) But then, in the same reading, he goes on to say, “There is no time, no space, when patience becomes manifested in love.” He explains, “Love unbounded is patience. Love manifested is patience.” (Edgar Cayce Reading 262-24)

When patience becomes an active principle in our lives, we rise above the boundaries of time and space. Our finite mind and our human side hold us in the dimensions of time and space but we have access to our infinite mind. Our Christ-like side can and will lift us beyond time and space. “Self in the physical grows weary, because you are only human, because you are finite; you have a beginning, you have an end of your patience, your love, your hope, your fear, your desire. But when these problems arise know you cannot walk the whole way alone, but He has promised in the Christ-Consciousness to give you strength, to give you life and that more abundant.” (3161-1) “In patience run the race that is set before you, looking to Him, the author, the giver of light, truth, and immortality. That should be the central theme in every individual.” (262-24)

Patience is not passive endurance and submissiveness. It is active, transforming, and filled with the power of God in action. “Taking or enduring hardships, or censure, or idiosyncrasies of others, is not necessarily patience at all.” (262-24) “Patience is active rather than passive.” (262-26) In one of his wonderful twists, Cayce asks us to consider the patience of God’s relationship with man. How has God manifested His/Her patience with us? Has He taken away free will? Has He crushed evildoers? Banned non-believers? Cayce notes “God is God of those who hate Him as well as of those who love Him. He is patient, He is kind, He is merciful.” (254-115) Again, Cayce expresses an active quality to patience:

“Love unbounded is patience. Love manifested is patience.... Remove self far from criticisms or fault-findings in others, and there comes then patience in word, deed, and act.” (Edgar Cayce Reading 262-24)

Actively trying to resist finding fault or criticizing others is patience. Actively trying to manifest love, when it hurts, is patience.

Cayce says, “Not in submissiveness alone, but in righteous wrath serve you the living God. Be mad, but sin not!” (262-24)

There’s an old Dutch proverb that seems to go straight to the point: “A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.”

Isaac Newton wrote: “If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent.”

Leonardo da Vinci, a man who truly lived patience, taught:

“Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.”

Patience requires that we loose the hold our finite mind and human side have upon us and open to our infinite mind, the Christ-Consciousness, and our spiritual, god-like side. We should actively run the race set before us—loving, not condemning, those around us and walking the daily path with God. When we do this, we live in another dimension, one beyond the limitations of time and space. A path that is eternal and filled with peace that passes all understanding.

St. Francis de Sales (French bishop of Geneva; 1567-1622) taught: “Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them–every day begin the task anew.”

We need to begin using our godly faculties more frequently in order to become who we ultimately are: companions to, and co-creators with God. Active patience in our daily lives is a fruit that carries the seeds of the Spirit within us, and when applied daily these seeds grow into a tree of life.

John Van Auken
is a director at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E., and is one of the organization’s most popular speakers, traveling throughout the U.S. and abroad to address audiences on the body-mind-spirit topics found in the Edgar Cayce readings. He is an acknowledged expert on the Cayce readings, the Bible, ancient prophecies, world religions, meditation, and ancient Egypt. John conducts seminars in the U.S. and abroad, and is a tour guide to the many sacred sites around the world. His latest book, Edgar Cayce on the Spiritual Forces Within You is now available for purchase at ARECatalog.com.

Sun Spots, the Power of the Mind, and the Cayce Readings By Don Carroll

An Edgar Cayce reading tells us that humankind’s state of consciousness on Earth can influence sun spot activity. Below are excerpts from this reading (5757-1).

"…do ye wonder then that there become reflected upon even the face of the sun those turmoils and strifes that have been and that are the sin of man?"

"…Much as that confusion which is caused upon the earth by that which appears as a sun spot. The disruption of communications of all natures between men is what? Remember the story, the allegory if ye choose to call it such, of the tower of Babel."

"…as ye do it unto the least, ye do it unto thy Maker—even as to the sun which reflects those turmoils that arise with thee…"

The Cayce readings remain on track. Last May, NASA began to publicly report on a huge solar storm event called a coronal mass ejection (CME); and the general media has picked up on it. That event occurred on July 23, 2012,when a massive electromagnetic storm shot through Earth’s orbital path, just missing giving Earth a broadside that scientists state would have set civilization back centuries! The potential damage to the U.S. alone was estimated at over 2 trillion dollars. NASA’s article also states that there is a 12 percent chance of such an event actually occurring in the next 10 years.

Coronal Mass Ejection Source: Wikapedia

“July 23, 2014: If an asteroid big enough to knock modern civilization back to the 18th century appeared out of deep space and buzzed the Earth-Moon system, the near-miss would be instant worldwide headline news.

“Two years ago, Earth experienced a close shave just as perilous, but most newspapers didn’t mention it… According to a study by the National Academy of Sciences, the total economic impact could exceed $2 trillion or 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina. Multi-ton transformers damaged by such a storm might take years to repair. … If Riley’s work holds true, there is a 12% chance we will learn a lot more about extreme solar storms in the next 10 years—when one actually strikes Earth.” Science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/23jul_superstorm

Another science article documents that the earth’s magnetic field is rapidly weakening. It is this magnetic field that gives us some protection from such solar events as discussed here. If these events happened concurrently, the results would have even a greater impact than already predicted.

"Previously, researchers estimated the field was weakening about 5 percent per century, but the new data revealed the field is actually weakening at 5 percent per decade, or 10 times faster than thought… Researchers think power grids and communication systems would be most at risk.

"Earth's magnetic field acts like a giant invisible bubble that shields the planet from the dangerous cosmic radiation spewing from the sun in the form of solar winds."
Huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/10/earth-magnetic-field-weak-flip_n_5574638.html

As noted in the aforementioned Cayce reading, we almost experienced a modern tower of Babel event. Curiously such an event that would knock civilization back to primitive technologies is theorized by Dr. Robert Schoch in his book, Forgotten Civilization, as having occurred 12,000 years ago to ancient advanced civilizations. This recent “near miss” also seems to harken to some of the apocalyptic predictions of the Mayan prophesied date of 12/21/12.

Fear not! Though this may seem to be a report of doom and gloom and dire circumstances, it is actually one of good news. It was a near miss; we did in fact dodge the “bullet.” And why is that? Again the Cayce readings can give illumination.

“Know that thy mind—thy mind—is the builder! As what does thy soul appear? A spot, a blot upon the sun? or as that which giveth light unto those who sit in darkness, to those who cry aloud for hope?” (Edgar Cayce reading 5757-1)

It would appear that the consciousness of a number of humans was elevated and enlightened enough to fend off the darkness of others in turmoil and confusion, thus avoiding this cataclysmic event as the readings say can be done.

"As has been given, however, that which has prevented and does prevent the whole of civilization becoming a turmoil is the attempt of those who have the ideals of the Prince of Peace at HEART! And as of old, the prayers of ten may save a city; the prayers of twenty-five may save a nation - as the prayers and activities of ONE may! but in union there is strength. Then if that purpose would be kept, then it must ever be kept in mind that we ARE our brother's keeper!" (Edgar Cayce reading 1598-2)

There is even documented evidence that this may well be the case. Dr. Steven Pinker, an evolutionary psychologist, believes that we are in the most peaceful time ever in human civilization. Despite the constant media bombardment of wars and violence, Dr. Pinker traces all such events and more throughout civilization and has come to the conclusion that we are in the most peaceful of times. Pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2007_03_19_New%20Republic.pdf.

Perhaps this is the reason that all these predictions and events have not culminated in disaster. This is a call to keep the faith in our higher selves and not allow external events and media to cause us to falter in our belief of the greater good. Each one of us is integral in creating this higher consciousness and in shedding light for each other rather than shedding blood. Each and every one of us is vital to this. As so well illustrated in the proverb ‘For Want of a Nail’:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

As the readings have noted; the kingdom is within. With each one of us going within to our higher self, we keep the kingdom intact for us all.

Don Carroll spent his career working in Fire & Rescue, as a district chief, academy instructor, and paramedic. During those 30 years, he raised a family and pursued the meaning of life through extended study into the Cayce readings and other spiritual, scientific, and philosophical materials. Today, Carroll is a regular speaker and writer of metaphysical topics from Cayce to the Kundalini. He spent 10 years researching and writing his latest work, Sacred Geometry and Spiritual Symbolism: The Blueprint for Creation. Carroll is also an international tour leader for the nonprofit Association for Research and Enlightenment, visiting sites of a spiritual nature across the globe. His website is DonaldBCarroll.com.

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Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. blog offers opinion pieces from contributors with a wide variety of backgrounds. These opinions are valued and create points of discussion. Opinions expressed in our blog may not necessarily represent the opinion of A.R.E.